Seasonal Affective Disorder
Why not something less clinical,
like the sunset blues?
or perhaps, rather, winter’s spell?
Till autumn recalls April, dues
are paid in sunshine,
a loss that lights the shortened fuse,
turning kin into things unkind,
thoughts to puddled mud.
Watch a grandfather clock unwind
until one’s sense of bad and good
looms inconsistent
as his or her shifting mood,
where nothing makes an impression,
huddled under cover,
but this dissembling depression
over the life of friend and lover,
waiting for the swell
of spring, when hell freezes over.
John Pidgeon
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Taken wihout permission from Journal of the American Medical Association, 2009, Volume 301(2)

We should probably try to remember, now that we may have a few moments to think about it, that multiple deployments are ruining the lives of many Americans. Next time you voice support for the effort, think about who is paying the price.

that even from Beyond the Grave, this wonderful, kind, and always smiling Man is still trying to save you from liberals . No wonder we love him so much.

St. Ronald speaks out against Medicare

Things to be thankful for this holiday season

American life expectancy is shorter than countries like Finland, Sweden and Denmark. One of the legacies of American Conservatism is the gift of having to put up with fewer years of the creeping socialized medicine ruining this country, thereby reducing just yet another indignity of old age.

(No, actually, it’s not. You’re just late.)

you can leave out the Knives and nooses, at least until new year’s.

North Pole Coroner, Ülf Bjøngerøgekkøn, ruled out foul play, saying that the Good Saint's death was a suicide.

Right about now the usual talk about the holidays and depression starts to circulate, and we take it as axiomatic that some people are going to spiral into a family/excess expense/sugarplum-fueled vortex of despair. But, wait, there’s good news! In the category of things-you-won’t-believe-but-are-nonetheless-true, falls the myth about suicide and Christmas.

THE DATA

Researchers Simon Carley and Mark Hamilton reviewed 16 papers on the Christmas-New Year’s season (Emerg Med J 2004 21: 716-717), and found that suicide and parasuicide rates go down around Christmas. They do, however, rise slightly at the start of the New Year.

Social isolation is typically defined in the epidemiologicalliterature in terms of a few simple indexessuch as marital status, contact with a close friend,religious member, and member of voluntary groups.The literature on the hypothesized human need tobelong, in contrast, has emphasized the psychologicalimpact of social interactions and relationships ratherthan their presence or absence (eg, 5). Although ameasure of marital status, contact with family andfriends, church membership, and/or membership involuntary groups may correlate with feelings of socialisolation, the correlation is imperfect for several reasons.Time spent alone can foster restoration or constructiveefforts rather than feelings of isolation, forinstance, and conflicts with marital partners andfriends can create feelings of loneliness as well aselevations in autonomic function and stress hormonesover extended periods (6). Even church membership,an index of social integration, can produce feelings ofconflict and isolation (7).

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An Online Journal of Chagas’ Disease, Rabies, Beverages from South America, Dishes from the Sixties, and Other Public Health Issues

If you wish to read the Chagas' Disease primer in order, click here to go to Part 1 and follow the links.
We do not wish to diminish the importance of Chagas' disease, or make it seem that we are equating its significance with that of Pisco Sours or Inca Kola--we realize, alas, that for the most part only geeks and do-gooders are interested in diseases like Chagas'. We are hoping that by including matters of interest to the general public that we may attract more readers.

Richard Lerner

Richard Lerner is the author of this blog. All complaints should be sent to anyone other than him. We are looking for other writers interested in vector-borne disease, or timely information on the fight against these conditions, especially in the Americas.